France seizes 13 tonnes of fake Chinese pills

French customs officers have seized 13 tonnes of fake drugs from China at a port on the English Channel, The Local reported Thursday.

The seizure of 2.4 million counterfeit medications, disguised as Chinese tea, was made at the northern port of Le Havre in February, officials said. The fake pills were in two containers on two different ships from Shanghai.

The haul broke the previous record seizure, which was also made at Le Havre port in 2013 when more than 1.2 million sachets of counterfeit aspirin were confiscated.

Counterfeit drugs accounted for 18 percent of all the seizures made by French customs officials last year, representing 7.6 million items.

The problem of counterfeit drug production in China was highlighted last year when the country’s authorities launched a crackdown which led to 1,300 arrests in December and the closure of dozens of unauthorised online pharmacies.